What we can do better

Although Q-Park strives to improve its performance in all areas of its operations, sometimes things may still go wrong or the initiatives taken may not have the desired effect. This section summarises the most important aspects in 2021 that did not go as expected and which need to be looked at carefully in the future.

External verification

External verification increases the confidence stakeholders have in our accountability and has a disciplining effect on our internal organisation. But external verification also entails extra time and costs. In the past years we have worked hard to standardise the reporting process and the source and structure of data used for reporting so this can easily be checked for completeness and reliability.

The whole process of CSR information gathering is therefore already prepared for future external verification against the quality standards our stakeholders expect. Some definitions need to be sharpened and shared with those who provide data in our back office, ensuring data maturity over time.

Data validation

As previously stated, our back-office systems are an excellent source of relevant data, however, it may occur that data is incorrect or incomplete. For example:

• Manual corrections had to be made on bicycle parking services and dedicated hospital parking facilities.

• Over the coming years, we intend to select significant KPIs to be thoroughly cross-checked and where necessary, we will support this effort with a data registration and validation process.

Target setting

The last time we established and published future-oriented targets and our achievements towards reaching them was in 2017. We had set targets for multiple KPIs to be achieved by 2020. Yet, due to the acquisition of Q-Park in the same year, the need to focus on our transformation programme, centralising ICT operations in 2018, and the disposal of our Nordics business in 2019, CSR goal-setting for the medium term was pushed back.

This year we have selected KPIs related to our top 5 materiality topics. We will use the 2021 baseline for target setting, except for two KPIs which demonstrate our ongoing commitment to sustainability for more than a decade. In preparation to adhere to EU regulations, CSRD & TCFD frameworks and the more stringent GRI standards, as of 2022 we will set targets for the aforementhioned KPIs and inlcude an even broader range of material KPIs and have programmes in place to reach them.